Analyst Gartner has highlightedkey IT predictionsfor organisations
and users in 2008 and beyond.
The analyst said the predictions highlight areas where
executives and IT professionals need to take action this year.
The full impact of these trends may not appear this year, but
executives need to act now so that they can exploit the trends for
their competitive advantage, Gartner said.
Key predictions:
By 2009, more than one-third of IT organisations will have one
or more
environmental criteria in their top-six buying criteria for
IT-related goods.
By 2010, 75% of organisations will use full life-cycle energy
and CO2 footprints as mandatory PC hardware-buying criteria.
By 2010, end-user preferences will decide as much as half of all
software, hardware and services acquisitions made by IT.
By 2011, suppliers to large global enterprises will need to
prove their green credentials via an audited process to retain
preferred supplier status.
Through 2011, the number of
3D printers
in homes and businesses will grow 100-fold over 2006 levels.
By 2011, Apple will double its US and Western Europe unit market
share in computers.
By 2011, early technology adopters will forgo capital
expenditures and instead purchase 40% of their IT infrastructure as
a service.
By 2012, 50% of travelling workers will leave their notebooks at
home in favour of other devices.
By 2012, 80% of all commercial software will include elements of
open-source technology.
By 2012, at least one-third of business application software
spending will be through service subscriptions instead of product
licences.